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Friday, November 23, 2018

Pretty Nails, Pretty Gross

I think I’ve mentioned before, while I love
dressing up and have a bit of a shoe fetish, I’m not a girly girl.Growing up on a farm, playing in the barn,
riding horses and playing piano meant that my finger nails were not generally a
focus.The same holds true to this
day.I am generally a naked, short nail
girl, but upon occasion I enjoy a manicure and pretty painted nails.

This week happens to be one of those rare
occasions.I decided to pamper myself
with a mani-pedi.I went for shellac on my finger nails.It’s harder and lasts longer.The problem is that it’s thicker so those tasks you use your
finger nails for, like picking popcorn husks out of your teeth, become
impossible leaving you suffering with a husk stuck between your teeth or
searching around while muttering under your breath looking for the dental
floss.

Why am I telling you my woes?Well, I just received my latest copy of the
Journal of Hospital Infection and came across an article “Nail
microbial colonization following hand disinfection: a qualitative pilot study”.We know that healthcare worker (HCW) hand
hygiene is one of the key measures to minimize HAIs.The study investigated the microbial
colonization of nails taking into consideration the nail length and the
presence or lack thereof of nail polish.The study included 99 HCW (nurses and midwives), 45 of which had natural
nails, 44 had varying types of nail polish and of the 99, 40 had long
nails.Of interest, HCWs who worked in
the surgical units were among the highest to have nails with some form of
polish.There was also a correlation
between the length of the nail and the use of nail polish – the longer the nail
the more likely it was to have nail polish on it.After following proper hand hygiene, the
researchers found that the presence of potentially pathogenic microorganisms
was correlated with nail length. Also, when HCWs kept longer nails that had
UV-cured nail polish (aka shellac) there was a high probability of ineffective
hand hygiene being performed.

While most healthcare
facilities have policies around the use of nail polish, it is also
well known that policing of such policies is not always done.While short, naked nails are preferred and
proven to be the easiest to disinfect, this study shows that even if nail
polish is used, shorter nails are more important when it comes to performing
effective hand hygiene.The study also
highlights that UV-cured polish needs to be banned.

Not being a routine polish wearer, I would
advocate for short nails and no polish when it comes to HCWs.However, I think I may also expand this to
include service providers such as waitresses, chefs, daycare providers, aestheticians
etc.Why?Well, if a HCW who has been trained time and
time again about the importance of hand hygiene and how to properly perform it
cannot keep their long, painted nails free of infection causing bugs then what
would we expect to find under the long, painted nails of people who have not
had hand hygiene training?

As for me, I’ll keep my UV-cured polish on
my nails for the next several weeks, but you can be sure they will be kept
short and I will be scrubbing extra hard to keep them clean!